INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

1.      Explain your understanding about : Instructional Design, Syllabus Design, and Curriculum Planning

a.       Instructional Design

a)      Instructional Design is the systematic development of instructional specifications using learning and instructional theory to ensure the quality of instruction. It is the entire process of analysis of learning needs and goals and the development of a delivery system to meet those needs. It includes development of instructional materials and activities; and tryout and evaluation of all instruction and learner activities.

b)      Instructional Design is defined as “a systematic process that is employed to develop education and training programs in a consistent and reliable fashion” (Reiser, Dempsey, 2007). In addition, it may be thought of as a framework for developing modules or lessons that (Merrill, Drake, Lacy, Pratt, 1996):

ü  increase and enhance the possibility of learning

ü  makes the acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient, effective, and appealing,

ü  encourages the engagement of learners so that they learn faster and gain deeper levels of understanding

b.      Syllabus Design

a)      Syllabus design can be defined as selection and organization of instructional content including suggested strategy for presenting content and evaluation (see Brown, 1995)

b)      Syllabus is a detailed and operational statement of teaching and learning elements which translates the philosophy of the curriculum into a series of planned steps leading towards more narrowly defined objectives at each level.

c.       Curriculum Design

'Curriculum design' is generally understood as a high-level process defining the learning to take place within a specific programme of study, leading to specific unit(s) of credit or qualification. The curriculum design process leads to the production of core programme/module documents such as a course/module description, validation documents, prospectus entry, and course handbook. This process should include consideration of the legal issues.

2.      What is difference between aim, goal, and objective in language teaching? Choose one topic of language skill to teach then state on goal of teaching it then write three objectives of the goal!

a.       Aims are general statements concerning the overall goals, ends or intentions of teaching.

-          Aims are general, objectives are specific.

-          There are more objectives than aims.

-          Aims are like strategy, objective are like tactics.

b.      Goals are statements of educational intention which are more specific than aims. Goals too may encompass an entire program, subject area, or multiple grade levels. They may be in either amorphous language or in more specific behavioral terms.

c.       Objectives are the individual stages that learners must achieve on the way in order to reach these goals. Learning objectives are aimed at the three domains of learning: knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Example :

Aim           : Students will understand and become proficient at identifying the   different types of spoken English.

Goals         : Students will be able to identify and use American slang terms and phrases.

Objectives :

a.       Students will identify and list 5 slang terms they have heard from their peers.

b.      Student will choose 3 of the most offensive slang terms from a list developed by the entire class.

c.       Students will create expressive gestures to go with their favorite slang terms.

3.      Please explain briefly 5 of the 7 terms below related to instructional and give an example for each

a.       Assessment          

a)    Nunan (2004, p118) states that: “assessment is taken to refer to the set of processes by which we judge students learning”. 

b)   Tom Angelo (1995), assessment is: “an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning”.

Based on these two definitions, it is clear that assessment is related more specifically to the students and the group of methods that are used to judge their performance

b.      Evaluation

a)      David Nunan (1999), “Evaluation is the collection and interpretation of information about aspects of the curriculum…for decision making purposes”(Nunan, 1999, p85).

b)      Loannou and Pavlou (2003), give a similar definition of evaluation. They state that: “Evaluation is the process of gathering information in order to determine the extent to which a language program meets its goals.”

c.       Task

A task is a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language while their attention is focused on mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning, and in which the intention is to convey meaning rather than to manipulate form. The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand along as a communicative act in its own right. (Nunan, 2004, p.4)

d.      Test

A test is an assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topic

e.       Examination

examination is a detailed investigation, the act of conducting the detailed investigation or is a formal test of your knowledge or skills in a given area.

4.      Please explain about 4 of the 6 types of syllabus below, and what subject or skill it can be applied.

a.       Task Based Syllabus         : A task-based syllabus is based on task-based learning, an approach where learners carry out tasks such as solving a problem or planning an activity. The language learnt comes out of the linguistic demands of the activity. A task-based syllabus is structured around a series of these tasks.

b.      Functional Syllabus           : A functional syllabus is a way of organizing a language-learning curriculum, rather than a method or an approach to teaching

c.       Structural Syllabus            : The Structural or Grammatical Syllabus is one of the most common type of syllabus and still today we can see the contents pages of many course books set out according to grammatical items

d.      A situational syllabus        : Situational syllabus is often defined as one in which the contents are organized according to situations in which certain language is likely to be employed

5.      Need Analysis and Situational Analysis

a.       Need Analysis       : A needs analysis is a means of defining as precisely as possible the learners' language needs and understanding what they think they can obtain from the language course.

It serves (at least) two purposes:

1.      It gives the teacher more of an idea about how to adapt the course to the student, rather than the student having to adapt to the course.

2.      It helps the student become more aware of his/her role in the learning process.

For example, in the first class I ever taught as a student teacher, my team-teacher and I really wanted to customize our instruction. We wanted our students to feel like we valued their input and opinions. We wanted them to see that we would implement suggestions that they gave us so that they would feel that this was really their class.

b.      Situational Analysis          : The process of identifying and evaluating existing internal and external elements that may impact an organization's ability to achieve its objectives. A situational analysis also includes a SWOT analysis which is an assessment of the organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.